The Lion - Issue 1, Volume 3

Special Freshers’ Week Pullout inside!

The Volume 3 Issue 1 Wednesday 26th September theheythroplion.co.uk

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Lion

Fr. McDade asks to Leave Priesthood Former Heythrop Principal wishes to leave Church to get married JT White Senior Editor Heythrop’s former Principal Fr John McDade SJ, 65, has decided to leave the Society of Jesus and the Priesthood in order to marry.

Fr McDade only retired in 2011 after 13 years of “distinguished service” as Heythrop Principal and the many years he had lectured in Theology at the College. He has been a Jesuit Priest for over 40 years and remains a “widely respected theologian”.

Fr. John McDade - Courtesy of Heythrop Archives

Imperial March on Heythrop Daniel Tripp Culture Editor DanielDa

The top two floors of Heythrop’s Halls of Residence have been given to students of Imperial College.

Twenty single study bedrooms have been rented out to students from Imperial, a nearby college not affiliated with ULU. All Imperial students are to be housed on the seventh and eighth floors. The Imperial students will also have their

own Residential Assistants (referred to as Wardens) and access to the HSU facilities.

Martin Grundy, Director of Finance, said of the renting out of the two floors to Imperial College, ‘The College has seen a reduction in applications. This has had an effect on the number of applications from students for accommodation in the Alban Hall. In the early summer, on the basis of the applications received, we considered that we would not be able to fill all the

rooms with Heythrop College students.’ According to Mr. Grundy, the matter were discussed with representatives from HSU and means were taken to fill the rooms with ‘returning Heythrop students’, but these were unsuccessful. Mr Grundy continued in stating that ‘The income generated from the Hostel makes an important contribution to overall College finances. The arrangement with Imperial allows the College to continue to benefit from this income.’

The decision has drawn intrigue from several quarters as journalist Catherine Pepinster noted in The Tablet Jesuit Provincial Dermot Preston SJ “quite possibly realising that gossip was spreading” and opted to make an announcement.

The Provincial stated “The request of Fr John McDade to apply to leave the ministerial priesthood and the Society of Jesus is naturally a sad one. We respect his request and we shall continue to support him with our prayers. In a letter to me, John has expressed his continued esteem for the Church, his love for the Society of Jesus and his gratitude to his Jesuit brothers.” Fr Preston In response to the question of whether the arrangement would be short term or if it would continue into future academic years, Mr Grundy responded ‘The arrangement is for one year and will be reviewed in light of the experience this year.’ A concern was whether this arrangement would mean that some Heythrop students might miss out on a place in the campus halls, the hub of social activity at Heythrop College, because their potential place had been taken by

highlighted that many people had “benefited from his teaching, insights and theological understandings” and clarified that Fr McDade is living outside the Jesuit order while the necessary procedures are undertaken for his departure from the Society of Jesus and laicisation.

In The Tablet Catherine Pepinster called McDade’s leave a “huge loss” stressing that he was a “charismatic teacher and hugely effective speaker”. She then added “It is hard to conceive of the agonies he must have gone through to reach that decision.” Pepinster went on to write that this is a “far cry” from the days when people to leave the Priesthood would “disappear”. Pepinster then clarified her point “The Catholic Church could be as ruthless as the Kremlin in airbrushing people from the record. The way that those who had served the Church loyally for years departed in ignominious circumstances; but should, say, a loss of faith, or falling in love and a desire to be allowed to be free to marry, be a reason to disappear?”

The same sentiment of a “loss” was repeated in letters to The Tablet of that time. Heythrop’s Chaplain Fr Dave Stewart SJ told the Lion

Continued on Page 6: an Imperial student. Mr Grundy concluded his correspondence with us by stating forthrightly that ‘All Heythrop College students who have applied for accommodation have been offered a place either in the Alban Hall or the Intercollegiate Halls.’ He also stated that, ‘We look forward to welcoming Imperial students to the College site.’

The Lion spoke to Eleanor McIntyre,

Continued on Page 3:

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Wednesday 26TH SEPTEmber | THE LION

NEWS

The Lion Office has moved!

Come find us next to “The Cave” in The Basement

f facebook.com/theheythroplion t twitter.com/theheythroplion Y youtube.com/theheythroplion : flickr.com/theheythroplion

HSU Rennovate The Basement - Complete with White Cows

JT White Senior Editor

theheythroplion.co.uk

Please recycle your Lion at one of the many recycle bins around College

Over the summer the first move made by the HSU was to renovate the College basement. The basement has served as the focal point of student activity in Heythrop for many years. Everything from the paint on the walls to the pool cues in the Common Room has been changed. Work on the basement began in June just after the new Heythrop Student Union was elected. HSU Vice President Alex Hackett told the Lion “I’m extraordinarily pleased with the way the basement has turned out. I think it’s a fantastic job, which I could never have done without the support and help of the dedicated Exec members – with special thanks to Peter O’Neil.” The Other Room has been rebooted as the Recreational

Room, which can be booked for events and used by any of the Heythrop societies already in existence or yet to be founded. New crests and an old golfing trophy of Heythrop’s own have been placed on the walls of the Quiet Room. The room itself has been renamed the Study, it now features some antique furniture. There are newly framed posters and noticeboards in the offices and the hallway where the student post has been resituated. There are now posters from societies in the hallway along with a pair of noticeboards on which societies and events can be advertised in order to reach as many students as possible.

There’s a mural outside the Common Room which now has new furniture and flooring. The walls have

The

Meet the New Lion Editorial Team Editor-in-Chief Gala Jackson-Coombs gala@theheythroplion.co.uk

Features Editor Zahra Al-Kateb features@theheythroplion.co.uk

Senior Editor JT White jt@theheythroplion.co.uk

Comment Editor Faye West comment@theheythroplion.co.uk

Senior Editor Joshua Ferguson josh@theheythroplion.co.uk

Culture Editor Daniel Tripp culture@theheythroplion.co.uk

The positions of News Editor and Sport & Societies Editor have not yet been filled. If you are at all interested in either position, email us at editors@theheythroplion.co.uk The Lion is published by HackJack Ltd. and printed by Mortons Print Ltd. All Copyright is the exclusive property of HackJack Ltd. No part of this publication is to be reproduced, stored on a retrieval system or submitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the publisher.

The Lion is the independent student newspaper of Heythrop College, University of London. We distribute at least 1000 free copies during term time around campus and to popular student venues in and around Kensington.

been repainted while the Kitchenette has been shortened to include a storage facility. The HSU has installed brand new game consoles, a PS3, an X-Box and a Nintendo Wii. The sofas have been switched to a new arrangement in booths, tables and chairs have also been introduced to the Common Room.

The HSU Office has had a makeover, new carpet, walls repainted and shelves put up. The partition of the TV room that took place last year has been taken used to create an office for the Lion, while the student paper’s old office has been turned into a storage cupboard.

The TV room is now the Cave, it will serve as a cinema for students, complete with befitting lighting and seating.

Editorial Team

NEXT DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS

03.10.12

Please send your submissions to: submit@theheythroplion.co.uk The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Editors or of the Heythrop Students’ Union. Every effort has been made to contact the holders of copyright for any material used in this issue, and to ensure the accuracy of this fortnight’s stories.

Created by Alex Hackett and Gala Jackson-Coombs

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Wednesday 26TH SEPTEMBER | THE LION

NEWS Hello LUSL and Goodbye ULU Leagues for Heythrop FC. Samuel English News Editor Heythrop’s football team join King’s, UCL, LSE and others as BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) establish a london league to rival ULU Leagues in an unprecedented move.

ULU leagues are meant to guarantee the smooth running of any sports fixture and society, to ease the burden placed on the shoulders of any captain, but, many found this was not the case last year. The general disappointment with the way ULU Leagues ran has led to KCL, UCL and other large colleges getting together with BUCS and proposing a new league for University of London colleges to join.

This season marks the first ever split from the ULU system as Heythrop Fc have chosen to move to LUSL (London Universities Sports League) set up by BUCS. This change is welcomed by most on the team. In spite of low squad numbers, Heythrop’s standing within the University of London footballing world has risen remarkably in the last two years seeing Heythrop finish in the top half of the table two years in a row, despite having the smallest squad to choose from.

Last season saw Heythrop FC separate from a higher league placement on goal difference alone.

Heythrop joins King’s College, Roehampton, St Bart’s, St George’s, the Royal School of Mines and the School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies in the LUSL 4th Division and hopefully push for a promotion place.

If you are interested in playing for the Heythrop Football team, contact Matt Holland at football@heythrop.su

Charlie Yarwood

Continued from Page 1:

In response to questions as to whenther or not she had been contacted, she stated ‘I was never

contacted by the college after my application’s rejection. Am I not an obviously interested party who

might’ve filled a room?’ It remains to be seen what effect these new students will have on the campus.

who ran for a RA position last year but was turned down and therefore denied a place at halls for her second year at Heythrop. Eleanor, current head of the Heythrop W.I. Society, found herself in a unique position as she decided to re-take her first year due as she had been suffering from ill health. She was advised to retake by Heythrop staff in light of this. We asked Eleanor, as someone who had missed out on halls, what she felt of the new developments. ‘Having lived in Alban Halls last year, I applied for a place there in my repeating year because I felt it would make my transition easier and living in college can be a brilliant support to any student. I am appalled that Heythrop have sold out [floors] 7 and 8 to Imperial students, when every year there are Heythrop students struggling to find somewhere to live. We’re a small college, with a tight-knit community, and we should be thinking to sustain that and looking to outside rental only after we’ve failed to fill places.’

London Student Senate Report Rejected Spot the Difference: A snapshot of LS 2009 and 2012

Daniel Tripp Culture Editor • Heythrop and Royal Holloway Senate Representatives Make Accusations of Undemocratic Practises at London Student • Criticism of Plans to Spend approximately 70% of London Student Budget on Multi-Platform App • After Report to Senate Rejected, Editor Claims: ‘They Believed They Could Direct London Student’ Cross-London Student publication the London Student has come under fire at ULU. The current editor of the paper, Jen Izaakson, a LSE post-graduate who describes herself on her Twitter as a ‘Freudian Marxist’, came under criticism from ULU Senate three days before the first issue of the paper was released. This culminated in her report to the Senate being rejected, as well as accusations of undemocratic practise from Senator William German of Royal Holloway.

Several key areas were criticised by the Senate, including that the London Student editor had elected to allocate £700 on a new multiplatform app for the paper. Her report stated that the app was to be developed by John Peart, a fellow student and friend of Ms. Izaakson, from LSE. However, at the Senate Meeting on the 14th September, two days after the paper’s first edition went to print, the School of African Studies representative at the Senate pointed out that this sum of

money amounted to approximately 75% of the paper’s budget. Furthermore, the Heythrop representative brought forward the point that the cost of their app had only been £200 and that ‘It seem[ed] strange that the London Student one was so expensive’. There were further remarks that the number of paid hours being allocated to the creation of the app was too many.

Speaking to The Lion about this expense and the fact that the London Student has fallen into debt for many consecutive years, Jen Izaakson said that the money had not yet been spent, and it has been ‘The cheapest quote so far.’ She also went on to claim that ‘London Student runs at a debt every year; for 3 decades - it’s not a commercial entity. Not spending our £1000 budget wouldn’t make much difference and I think students would prefer LS to be accessible, which

multi-media platforms tend to help [sic]’ Further questions were asked after Birkbeck College enquired as to how sub-editors for the paper were elected and it was revealed that an email advertising positions sent to the various Student Unions of the University of London was reported to have not been received by many of these institutions. When asked if the email could be re-sent Jen replied that the positions has already been filled. It soon also came to light that many places had not been advertised at all, as the previous Sub-Editors had wanted to keep their place on the paper. This was denounced as being undemocratic by the Royal Holloway representative and Heythrop called for a democratic review into how the paper was run. The vote to agree with the report was put forward which resulted in six votes for and seven

votes against resulting in it being rejected When asked to comment

by The Lion, Ms. Izaakson said: ‘I wasn’t aware of the regulations on London Student at the time and that we have total independence from Senate - if I’d known, I’d have explained. I think people voted the report down because they believed they could direct London Student.

A mandate comes from a manifesto at election - not 7 people on Senate - not my opinion, but the regulations stipulate London Students’ independence.’ She went on to add ‘There isn’t any consequence to a LS report being accepted or rejected by Senate.’

The design of London Student is extremely reminiscent of the design that the paper produced in 2009, under the editorship of Hilary Aked. When asked about the aesthetic similarity, Izaakson stated “I really liked the design”.

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Wednesday 26TH SEPTEMBER | THE LION

FEATURE

The Sabb Interview Are two heads really better than one?

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Wednesday 26TH SEPTEMBER | THE LION

FEATURE Features Editor Zahra Al-Kateb grills the two new HSU Sabbatical Officers This year Ashley Doolan is the newly elected Heythrop Student Union’s president. Alex Hackett is the first ever vicepresident. I caught up with them to discover their plans for this year and how they would like to get more people involved…

Zahra: What are your main aims for the student union this year?

Alex: One that I feel I have somewhat achieved is the huge redevelopment of the basement. The change of the layout has been a big project and something that I really wanted to achieve when I took this job. Other things I want to do include things like helping sports and societies to become more established in Heythrop by giving them the redeveloped Recreational Room (formally known as The Other Room). A few online things such as advertising, that’s another thing that I want to do. I really want to create more of an online presence for the HSU this year.

Things like a redeveloped website which includes news will allow all students to be engaged. I feel like a lot of it has been done already.

Ashley: I really want students to feel as though they have reclaimed their union. Over the last few years there really has been a feeling that the HSU exec have moved away from the student body and have just been in the offices. No one has ever seen them or knows who they are even after a whole year of them being in office. My big desire for this year is for everyone to be able to name people from their exec, so

they can know who these people are and hold them to account. I’d like a greater representation of students within the college involved in the union. I want student voices to be heard as equals within the college. We have positions on every board but that does not necessarily mean we have an equal voice on every board. One of the first things we have done already is getting the academic affairs officer on to cochairing the student-staff liaison committee. In the past there has always been a student presence on the committee, but it has always been chaired by the staff. But now as the staff and students are changing, they now get to have an equal say in those meetings. I thought that was really important. We are also doing a lot of inter faith stuff such as working with the Islamic, Jewish and Christian societies.

We are really keen to be working with them and we are looking at doing a big inter faith or inter society event. This will probably be around the second term so look out for that!

Zahra: Alex, you mentioned the website. When you log on to the website at the moment it is currently unavailable.

What are your aims for the website?

Alex: It has been quite a difficult one. We have been really ambitious with the website. We have a strange domain name which is heythrop.su which we thought was quite clever and pretty cool but it was very difficult for us because its actually an old Russian domain name. It actually stands for Soviet Union! We do have a web develop-

ment officer who has been beavering away. We have a lot of things we would like to be accessible on the website, one of them being society information. We’d also like societies to have their own miniwebsites on the HSU website. We think it would be really useful and a much easier way to keep in contact with people because not everyone uses Facebook and Twitter!

It is easier if you have one sort of central online place to do that. We want to have an online shop and to be able to sell merchandise easily; also having information that the HSU is trying to provide very easily accessible in a blog format is something that we are going to do. But yes, at the moment it is still being developed, we have been put back a couple of weeks now but I do think the wait is well worth it!

students does occur – which we aren’t really predicting – but if it were to happen, we will do our best to make facilities available. Perhaps current Heythrop students who have spare rooms can let us know and we can have that online as soon as possible if any sort of crisis were to

Zahra: In the recent issue of The Lion, we highlighted the issues regarding the lack of student accommodation for Heythrop students. Do you have any advice for first years?

Ashley: We have new plans for the Recreational Room, formerly The Other Room if you’re unaware. It is there to facilitate lectures and meetings that need to be put on for students. I think that’s one thing that will really help to get students involved. If anybody has got an interest in something, is passionate about anything or works for a charity and wants to evangelize about it then we would happily put on a lecture about that for them. People like to talk about what they’re doing when they’re not at Heythrop and I don’t think there has never really been a facility for that before.

We are also looking at publishing the dates for every meeting for any exec meeting. Exec meetings are open to any student. Everyone is welcome to come to them. If what they think is going to be coming up in a meeting is relevant to them or if they want to raise something at a meeting they are welcome to come along. I think making students aware of that and giving them the dates for those meetings will really help. Also we hope to hold more regular meetings in the common room; we are looking at once a month. We’d like to hold a sort of question time so people can come in and hold us to account to things and ask us “what the hell were you thinking when you did that?!” Of course “you did a great job guys” will be nice as well! I’d like basically an open door policy. If you want to come and talk to us, come in. If you do come you can also bring me a cup of coffee.

Ashley: At the moment we don’t foresee it being a problem because Heythrop’s application figures aren’t as high this year as they have been in previous years. A housing crisis isn’t necessarily going to happen because the halls of residence actually have about as many students that it needs to have. Intercollegiate halls are another thing to look at; I would happily advertise those because they are fantastic.

It’s a really great chance to meet people who aren’t at Heythrop. I know people who are at intercollegiate halls. At first it can be a struggle but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you wont get involved so don’t worry about it too much.

Alex: There are a lot of places in which you can go. There are several places where Heythrop students usually tend to go – Shepherd’s Bush, Clapham – those sort of areas. They are within commutable distance to Heythrop but houses are at a reasonable price. The student union is definitely the people to come to if you have concerns.

Don’t do what I did and get a flat in South Kensington because it will destroy your student loan! Talk to the student union, there are plenty of people who know what they’re talking about. If a big overspill of

break out. Of course we will try and respond to it if it does happen but we are not foreseeing it at the moment.

Ashley: The University of London housing service is fantastic.

Alex: Yeah, they’re also really good!

Zahra: How do you aim to get students more involved in the student union this year?

Alex: It is for providing the space and the facilities here that wont make people want to immediately flee after their lecture, I think that will be the benefit and I think the new renovations that we have will definitely help.

Ashley: We did all the renovations because we want a union that people can be proud of. We want people to be involved in it and we want people to take possession of it. We want to build a sense of pride within the student union. It already exists for Heythrop; we just want to translate that for the student union as well.

Zahra: Alex, you’re the first ever vice-president. What can you bring to this new role?

Alex: The main elements of the role are marketing and development of the union. The marketing aspect I feel like I’ve honed my skills because I have spent the last two years doing The Lion, which I am being interviewed by right now! So I think I have done reasonably well with that. I think I have built something in Heythrop that has lasted and has kept people going. The marketing aspect - design, being able to produce posters, adverts and things that Heythrop students will follow - I think I have a history of doing that. The development side, I see it as improving the facilities and the things that will keep Heythrop students in the building! The renovation of the basement will again hopefully be beneficial towards that. I am really pleased with what the union has managed to get done over the summer period. There are a lot of other things what will happen during the year.

Zahra: Final question! Any advice for freshers?

Ashley: Get involved, don’t be scared to talk to people, and don’t be scared of us. We may be a bit mental and bit cliquey at times but we are actually really keen to talk to you so do come and talk to us!

Alex: You can always un-tag photos on Facebook…so you can do what you like! Oh and make sure you get a free t-shirt!

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Wednesday 26TH SEPTEMBER | THE LION

NEWS Continued from Page 1:

“We’re very sad to see a theologian of John’s stature and reputation go, and we wish him all the very best in the future.”

During his years as a Jesuit Fr McDade has lectured on Systematic Theology since 1985 and, through his teaching, became interested in the theology of Christian-Jewish Relations and its impact on Christian theology. He is responsible for developing the Diploma in Christian-Jewish Relations and the MA in Contemporary Theology in the Catholic Tradition. From 2008 to 2010 Fr McDade was the President of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain. He was a student of Modern Languages at Oxford and Theology at Heythrop and after teaching at a secondary school he got his doctorate at the University of Edinburgh, on the interpretation of pre-existence language in Christology, using Paul Ricoeur’s theory of metaphor as an interpretative category. Apart from his academic work, Fr McDade has written for The Tablet and The

Month, of which he was the editor from 1986 to 1995, on a wide range of topics in the Christian faith, world affairs and even contemporary cinema.

After Fr John McDade retired as Heythrop Principal in 2011 he was succeeded by former Jesuit Provincial Fr Michael Holman. Now with the news of McDade’s leaving the Jesuit order Fr Michael Holman SJ has told the Lion “John made a great contribution to the life of Heythrop over many years and most of all as Principal at a crucial time when the College underwent many strategic and administrative changes and doubled in size.

His vision and his leadership were inspirational for staff and students alike. I and many others in the Heythrop community are very grateful to him and I wish him all the best for the future.”

Editor’s Note - On behalf of The Lion Team, we would like to wish Fr. Mcdade every happiness and have been privileged to work with him and learn from him as both Principal and a lecturer.

Heythrop could raise fees to 9k Samuel English News Editor The College has signed an access agreement permitting a rise of tuition fees for Heythrop. This was approved by the College Governors. Although this does not guarantee that fees will be increased, the signing of the access agreement is a necessary step in the raising of fees.

This agreement was made on the day of last academic year’s Summer Ball, on a day when there was technically no Student Union to contribute to the talks surrounding this agreement. This has been seen as a contentious act by the HSU Exec, who had previously requested to be present at any meeting about fee increase. Union President Ashley Doolan and Vice President Alex Hackett have now asked the College for a “fair breakdown” of where the extra cash raised by the higher tuition fees will be spent.

Former HSU President Gala Jackson-Coombs said of the agreement “The student body were incapable of voicing their opposition, even if they had wanted to. I fear this signals a change in College and HSU relations, from a position of respect and cooperation to back-room deals and animosity.”

Speaking to the Lion, current Vice President Alex Hackett said that “This should at least be given the honour of an AGM,” acknowledging that this would result in a total of “£120,000 being taken from Heythrop Students.” This year’s Sabbatical team acknowledge that an EGM can only be held if the student body are given more infor-

ULU Presidential Nominations Open

mation, Doolan added “We, as an Executive committee cannot hold a position on this matter until we have consulted the student body.”

The document from the Finance and General purposes meeting which is under fire is itself unclear with Point 2.2 of the document stating “Most other HE institutions have set the undergraduate tuition fee at the maximum level and early indications suggest that the fee level is not a significant influence on a student’s choice of institution. For this reason we are suggesting that we increase the fee charged by the College to the £9,000 for students entering in 2013-14…We can give some of this [extra] money back to students in the form of fee waivers and/or bursaries…or use the additional income to invest in the student experience.”

Only to be directly contradicted by point 3.2 which states “Our current spend on access and retention measures is around the £400,000 level and therefore our spending is in line with the regulator’s guidance.” Thus College plan “no significant change” to the “planned pattern of expenditure on access, retention, fee waivers, bursaries and scholarships.” Further documents acquired by The Lion it is clear that by 2014-2015 College will be providing £76,000 less in bursariesa nd fee waivers. A further contradiction to the claim that a fee hike would result in additional “fee waivers and or bursaries” and an enhanced experience for students here at Heythrop.

College were given the opportunity to comment on the content of this article but no comment was been received at the time of going to print.

Josh Ferguson Senior Editor The nominations for the by-election to elect the new ULU President have now opened. The position became vacant following the announcement that Presidentelect Sean Rillo-Raczka would not be taking office. Mr. Rillo-Raczka cited “personal reasons” as the reason for his decision. The position of Acting President has been filled in

the interim by Vice President Daniel Lemburger-Cooper, who will hold the position until the election is held, starting the 1st of November. ULU employee Rob Park will act as Returning Officer, a position he has held for the last three years. This is the first time in recent memory that a ULU President has stepped down from office, the last being the resignation of ULU President Jennifer Huseman in 2008 due to a worsening disability.

This by-election comes at an im-

portant juncture for ULU with its entire operational structure being reviewed this year by the central university, and the Sabbatical roles of President and Vice President will be sure to come under close scrutiny.

If you wish to nominate yourself for the Position of ULU President, the relevant information can be found at ulu. co.uk.elections.

Abs Hassanali: “I still think there’s some unfinished business.”

Alex Hackett & JT White Lion Team Former student of Heythrop College Abduttayyeb ‘Abs’ Hassanali was elected twice as ULU Trustee, a position he first ran for as a firstyear student. It was just last year that Abs made an unsuccessful bid for the Vice Presidency of ULU. The interview began with a moment for reflection on the student protests of 2010 over the tuition fee rise. The NUS organised a student march on Parliament of over 50,000 people in November 2010, but it was the violent outbreak at Conservative Headquarters that was so controversial. As to whether or not the student movement had failed to achieve its aims specifically Abs was clear: “Ultimately, yes.

The student movement was divided between those who condemned student violence and those who condoned it. In that sense I think they both isolated and betrayed students.” There were repeated efforts by student activists to protest the incumbent government’s education reforms, on which Hassanali remarked “The student movement was yearning for an officer who preferred non-violence, but at the same time, did not

turn her or his back on students.”

When quizzed about the reason that his election campaign Vice President of ULU was unsuccessful Abs went on to say “The demographic has shifted to the hard Left and they had an advantage because they were affiliated with Marxist groups who ran better campaigns.” He then went further to emphasise “I ran my campaign on experience. But it was hijacked by two other candidates with not only bad answers, but all the wrong questions.” During the ULU election campaigns the question of Palestine became a definitive issue for candidates and he stated that “The fight became divisive for our Muslim and Jewish students.

Where the Union of Jewish Students cannot interact or vote for the same candidate as the Federation of Islamic Societies Students.”

Then the interview turned to the question of ULU’s internal politics.

When asked “How was it working with President Vraj Domalip and VP Sean Rillo Raczka?” Abs responded “Vraj and Sean didn’t get on and didn’t do work very much together. It took Vraj 10 months to put up suggestion boxes around ULU – I don’t know what he did with them. Sean was worse.” On the tensions between ULU officers he stressed “I just felt they both could have put in a bit more, even when compared to Clare Solomon and Viktoria Szmolar.”

With regard to Heythrop’s own student body politic we asked Abs “Who was the better HSU President?” Out of Gala JacksonCoombs, James Johnston and Ben Lund-Conlon he said Gala was the best President of recent times. As for his future plans Abs had this to say “Well I will hopefully be graduating and looking for a job if anyone knows of one going. No no, I’m hoping to stay on to do a Masters for another year, somewhere at the University of London, probably at Heythrop.” And then he went further to add “I still think there’s some unfinished business.”

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Wednesday 26TH SEPTEmber | THE LION

“COMMENT.” Edited by Faye West | comment@theheythroplion.co.uk

A Complex Problem?

Eleanor MacIntyre writes a response to Senior Editor Josh Ferguson’s Article on the topic of mental heath 10

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| THE LION

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COMMEN

Eleanor MacIntyre 1st year BA Theology Joshua Ferguson, in my opinion, quite correctly pointed out in a previous edition of the Lion, that mental health is something that everyone thinks that they understand.

In writing this response to his article, clearly I am no exception. I like to think that I, at the very least, can lay claim to understanding it myself. But if the last few years of my life have taught me anything at all, it’s that I damn well don’t. And I don’t think many people rightly do.

As I see it, the stigma surrounding mental health (I mean ‘mental health’, as opposed purely to its problems) is one that always strikes me as odd. After all, everyone has a mind. But as a culture, it goes against our inner Brit to actually open up and answer when greeted with a friendly ‘how are you?’ - A stiff upper lip masks our problems, and it is taboo to be boastful of our successes. Keeping ourselves mentally healthy can be a delicate balance - and as students, often under intense pressure from a multitude of angles, I think it is a matter that concerns us all.

I understand Josh’s anger at the

ignorance, judgement, and even hostility that confronts those with mental health problems on a daily basis. I certainly agree that watching a Louis Theroux documentary doesn’t equal a doctorate in Mental Health Studies; I struggle to see a positive solution lying in further ostracising those who have the misfortune to struggle with poor mental health by claiming, as he does, that they cannot be understood.

The stigma lies in the attitude that mental health is something ‘other’, outside of our view of the world.

It is something that is pinned to the tramp in the back alley or the elderly neighbour who used to a functioning person. It is something that we don’t need to talk about because it doesn’t concern us.

Josh, no one enjoys an awkward conversation, but I think we’d better talk.

We all well know the petulant wail of ‘no one understands me’.

Whether deliberate or not, it validates us, legitimises our struggle, and allows us to block out the possibly insightful words of others. We are belittled by our own ignorance of mental health and our reluctance to discuss it. We do ourselves wrong to deny that, although mental health is a sensitive subject, and

highly individual, we can take time to understand how individuals are similar and dissimilar to ourselves.

Even when, as so clearly frustrates Josh, we can’t understand them completely. It is so easy to be angry and close ourselves off when misunderstood, and to pretend that we are beyond the rest of the world. But that doesn’t broach the truth of the subject, and it doesn’t allow us to break away from this damaging stigma.

I don’t fault Josh’s assertion that ‘it is absolutely impossible for a person without clinical depression, or body dysmophia, or OCD to understand what it is like to live with these problems’, but I think he has failed fully to acknowledge that it’s just as impossible to understand for those who suffer with these problems to understand them as well. A diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (or ‘BPD’) requires five of nine listed criteria to be fulfilled, which means someone who is ‘borderline’ could have any of 256 combinations of symptoms.

This is not easy to comprehend.

The best medical professionals will tell you to treat an individual before their condition, but it does give us somewhere to start. And it gives others, professional and

otherwise, a way in to understanding, “Don’t assume, “yes”, and don’t be afraid to learn and to question”. Mental health is indeed a complicated area – where we can’t run before we can walk.

There is a difference between someone who judges mental illness ignorantly, and someone whose view is blinkered by the stigma but still try to understand. Yes, Josh is quite right. Judgements, assumptions, even well-meant platitudes can be incredibly hurtful to those who struggle with mental health problems. Therefore, we must change the way we look at mental health as a society and learn to be supportive effectively. I believe a huge part of that is acknowledging that mental health exists. It is a part of each of us, not a separate or secluded issue. We must acknowledge that this disfiguring shroud of stigma is rooted in the attitudes of those living with mental illness as well as those deemed mentally ‘healthy’, whatever that means. It doesn’t matter if I write this as a student with years of psychiatric appointments behind me, or as one who

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guson Josh FerEditor Senior

only befriended someone with a mental illness last term. I still have mental health. It’s still complicated and will always be complicated. I’m no different from anyone else. I believe the question is not ignorance or failure to understand some definitive ‘problem’ or ‘condition’, but in fact how do we understand each other? How do we lift this stigma and improve the health of each of us?

If you would like to start learning about mental illnesses and better mental health, try mind.org.uk

8

WEDNESDAY 26th November | THE LION

COMMENT

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Write for us!

Eleanor Crowe & Michael Malt

2nd year Undergraduate Why do people go to metal festivals? This is relevant to all of you because arguably anyone who listens to anything BUT metal deserves to die! The fun starts when you find someone wearing the same obscure t-shirt from an Amon Amarth gig in 2009 and decide they’re probably your soul mate. The bad weather is part of the enjoyment, as it always seems to result in topless mud-wrestling, or maybe that’s just personal experience...

The UK is known for the rivalry

between its two biggest metal festivals, Download and Sonisphere, whose joint attendance is over 160,000. A lot of people can’t decide which of these two awesome festivals to go to. This year, Download is slightly in the lead with two massive headline acts: Metallica and Black Sabbath. However, they have let themselves down with some of the smaller acts. The bitching generally begins when You Me At Six are headlining above Killswitch Engage.

Both festivals have caught on to the fact that older bands are received better- because nothing produced in the last two decades could even compare to Slayer. This is reflected in the 2012 headliners. Sonisphere have Faith No More, Kiss and Queen, but bear in mind Freddie Mercury is highly

unlikely to return from the dead and Adam Lambert won’t impress many. Queen have stooped so low.

The atmosphere is probably quite different to anything you’ve ever been to before. Camping in a field with around 30,000 metalheads will turn out to be exactly how you expect it, but on the upside if you are willing to take some clothes off, you’ll get quite a lot of free alcohol and potentially some camera time. As well as this, you’ll meet loads of people who will end up being your best friend and you’ll leave having no idea what their names are or even what they look like. Just be wary of people setting fire to/being sick on your tent.

A lot of people feel Sonisphere could never live up to last year’s line up – the only appearance the ‘big four’ (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax) made in the UK. They played alongside Slipknot, whose performance was extremely emotional owing to the tragic death of bassist Paul Grey. No one would have expected just how much power, energy and unity rose up out of the mourning thousands, creating an unforgettable performance.

As for the rivalry, we unanimously vote for Download, although You Me At Six and Black Veil Brides will undoubtedly attract screaming 15 year old girls who have never been out of their parents’ sight before. The solution? Listen to death metal. Go to Bloodstock!

Send us your articles at theheythroplion. co.uk/submit

Nick Clegg didn’t say ‘Sorry’.

JT White

Senior Editor The much maligned Liberal Democrat leader opened his video address with the words ‘I would like to take this opportunity to put a few things straight...’ He’s chosen to apologise at this time as it has become impossible to ignore the ratings pit that the Liberals are currently living in. Now the only mission left is to try and slither out of this sorry hole. Clegg goes on, oh how he goes on, ‘We made a promise before the election, that we would vote against any rise in fees under any circumstances - but that was a mistake. It was a pledge made with the best of intentions. But we shouldn’t have made a pledge that we weren’t absolutely sure we could deliver. I shouldn’t have committed to a policy that was so expensive when there was no money around.’ He then throws in a dash of realpolitik ‘Not least when the most likely way we’d end up in government was in coalition with Labour or the Conservatives, who are both committed to put fees up.’

Here’s comes the magic ‘There’s no easy way to say this,’ brace yourself for it, ‘we made a pledge, we didn’t stick to it and for that I am sorry.’

It’s not clear what exactly Clegg is apologising for here, but then he adds ‘When you’ve made a mistake you should apologise.’ Clegg is emphatic ‘I will never again make a pledge, unless as a party we are absolutely clear about how we can keep it. I accept that won’t be enough for everyone, but I owe it to you to be up front about it.’

Notice politicians never do anything wrong, at worst they’re just ‘mistaken’. It’s always an ‘accident’ when it sends approval ratings into a downward spiral. Clegg knows full well what he means when he says ‘And I don’t believe it should cast a shadow everything else that the Liberal Democrats are achieving in government. When we’re wrong we hold our hands up, but when we’re right we hold our heads up too.’ So it was right to rise tuition fees even though there is no economic reason for fees.

It’s been widely recognised among serious economists - even by Thatcherite Samuel Brittan - that the cuts are totally unnecessary.

The current rate of government debt amounts to 65% of GDP, while it was over 180% of GDP when the NHS was established. Not only are these cuts unnecessary, they have actually increased the rate of borrowing rather than decreased it.

The UK government has committed itself to a high level of unemployment for years to come, but it would actually be a better way to reduce deficits if we cut unemployment to raise tax-revenue. Yet Clegg claims that the Lib Dems are ‘fighting’ to rebuild the economy, while it has been driven into a double-dip recession and there’s no end in sight. He also claims spuriously that the Lib Dems are ‘defending’ the vulnerable. Contrarily, we find Jeremy Hunt talks about opening up health-care to be rinsed of £20 billion by private companies and there’s even talk of £8 billion cuts to the NHS on the horizon.

Furthermore, the UK government has slashed benefits for the disabled by £4 billion and has contracted Atos to throw as many disabled people off of the dole line as they can. The Daily Mirror has reported that 32 people died a week last year after being deemed ‘fit to work’ in this way. The government has actually imposed quotas on job centres to knock three people a week off of benefits and people claiming JSA can live in fear of losing their stipend of £60 a week for six months at most. As part of workfare claimants were bussed in to steward the Jubilee unpaid and without accommodation. So much for ‘fairness’

Flickr.com/libdems

in present-day Britain. It’s the basic assumption of widespread social democratic values that the state should guarantee a safetynet at least for the vulnerable. It’s

Nick Clegg who has led the Liberal Democrats to betray this liberal principle in his willingness to be escorted over to the right by austerity junkies David Cameron and George Osborne.

Guide to Fresher’s Week

I Wish I’d Known

Josh Ferguson Senior Editor

Let me begin by personally greeting all you charming Freshers reading this article. London in general and Heythrop in particular is a strange and often disorienting place, but don’t worry. You’ll soon get the hang of it. But, just because I like you, I’m going to give you some tips I’ve picked up in my time here.

My friends and I learned these lessons the hard way, and I sincerely hope you won’t have to. Just stick by these simple guidelines so you don’t seem as eye-wateringly stupid those who don’t.

1.

The Swami Store around the corner from the front door is run by the nicest man in the world. His shop is a haven of useful necessities, from drinks and cigarettes to food and laundry powder. Furthermore, he charges very good prices for the area.

2.

There are three branches of Crispin’s located within walking distance of the College (Kensington Church street and two on the high street towards the park). They are open 24 hours, which is their primary selling point. Their prices are high and the staff are singularly rude and unhelpful, but if you run out of cigarettes at four o’clock in the morning or get up in the middle of the night with an itch that only a Pot Noodle can scratch, you know they are there.

3.

There are lots of wonderful shops on Kensington High Street, like Zara, Topshop, H&M, Waterstones, TK Maxx, Miss Sixty, The Kooples, countless shoe shops, and some rather tempting food places.

And let me be clear: STAY THE F*CK AWAY. These shops hate you and want to steal your money. Your bank account may well be newly swollen with student loan money, but rest assured that your wallet won’t seem so reassuringly weighty

in the trousers in a few months’ time.

4.

For God’s sake, keep up with your work. When Freshers’ week is over, it stays over. Don’t be that tiresome prat who wants to stay drunk every day for the rest of term.

5.

Get involved. The wonderful thing about Heythrop is that we don’t have established societies like other colleges do (which are, as a rule, hierarchical and cliquey as f*ck) so you can do what you want.

If you, say, want to start a Jazz Society (or whatever else) then go and bother the Student Union and they’ll tell you how to do it, and set you up with what you need. You have a blank canvas here, so go ahead and go nuts with it.

6.

Don’t be a dick. Seriously.

Everyone’s in a new and unfamiliar place here, so being an asshole is only going to make life difficult for everybody. So bear that in mind before you alienate everyone you’re

going to be spending the year in close proximity with.

7. The 24-hour McDonald’s over the road from High Street Kensington Tube is handy to have in a pickle. But before you step in there for the fourth time that week, think very, very carefully.

8.

Be aware that first impressions are mighty important. Reputations are irrevocably forged during Freshers’ Week, so unless you want to be labelled “Prick Fresher” “F*cking Stupid Fresher” or the inevitable “Slutty Fresher” for the rest of your time at Heythrop, consider your actions for a few seconds.

9.

“YOLO” is something that only feckless morons say when they are about to do something incredibly stupid. Don’t be that guy.

10. If you’re out in London, remember that you can’t reason with screaming drunks, crazy homeless people, or garden variety assholes who want to mug you. Your wal-

let or phone is not worth getting stabbed or dying for. Run away.

11. A bacon sandwich and a milkshake is a guaranteed hangover cure.

12. Explore. You’re in London, the most wonderful city in the world, the glittering jewel of the Empire.

You’ve got wonderful parks, innumerable galleries and museums, interesting places, undiscovered bookshops, everything that makes a life strange and wonderful here.

Spend your time exploring and finding new things. You won’t get a chance like this again.

13. Be wary of any local Chinese restaurants.

14. Hanging up your clothes in the shower is a great substitute for ironing them.

15. Mastering both the tubes and the buses is a necessary skill. Take the time to familiarise yourself with them. The 9 and 10 bus routes, for example, are swift and easy routes into central London.

16. Don’t. Be. A. Dick.

10 fool proof rules for Freshers’ Week.

Samuel English News Editor

So Freshers’ is finally upon you, and it will stay with you forever. I should note at this early stage that it is etiquette to declare wholeheartedly next time you see the collection of freaks and weirdo’s you call “friends from home” that your Freshers’ was A) The best of all and B) Will never be topped. Even if both of those statements are lies, you cannot, will not and should not even entertain the thought that your “friend from home” who went to Edinburgh and had Prince, Radiohead and Kasabian open their Freshers’ may have had a better time than you. The truth is you never really were friends with that person anyway and you should realise now that he/she is grotesquely boring as you have new friends now. Anyway he/she will inevitably be ‘that’ Fresher. This is where I come in useful, every University has ‘that’ Fresher dear readers and if you follow these 10 Steps, you will avoid being Heythrop’s very own ‘Freshers’ fent.’ Using this guide you will come to know the people who have prepared seven different outfits weeks in advance who, once the festivities actually begin, turn

around say “ughch, I HATE Freshers’ I have Freshers’ flu which is I’d like to shout: NOT A THING. I REPEAT NOT A THING. It’s just your mind, you’re tired and as you’re not a child your peers expect you to shut up and go drink some coffee!

Everyone feels and looks as bad as you. In any event enough of this, let us go then, you and I...

Rule 1: Leave the astroglide at home. Stop whoring yourself around okay, be normal, be you and when you go to ULU for the big Freshers’ Fayre stop trying to get an invite to some KCL or UCL ‘afterparty’ in Shoreditch or Tower Hamlets, it’s going to be shit anyway.

Rule 2: Act like you’ve at least been on a night out before. I’m not saying to walk the line, what I am saying is to arrive [almost] on time, get to know more than three other people and refrain from acting like you saw Lord Lucan and now know how much cash is coming your way. Some nights will be quiet as Freshers’ is a long week and everyone needs downtime, by all means have some drinks during the quieter days it’d be wrong not to, it’s one of the reasons you’re here right? But just think when you’re at the pub at 3pm “Do I really need a triple vodka and lemonade now?”

Or better still ask yourself why

you’re drinking triple vodka and lemonade anyway, you’re not 16 anymore...

Rule 3: Avoid PR types at ULU fayres. They are probably ‘working’ [C.F ‘Being a dickhead is cool’ video on youtube] and want absolutely nothing to do with you, but their desire to seem popular and the seemingly preternatural impulse to yack will render them incapable of not starting a conversation with you. Ignore them and walk on. Under NO circumstance drink with them, they always take it too far and it’ll get Hunter S. Thompson-esque before you can say “Wild Turkey.” They’ll end up blacking out or falling into some sort of socializing K-hole only to wake up three days later, naked, holding a burger outside McDonalds in Chinatown. You don’t want to get someone fired from the P.R. job they never had, do you?

Rule 4: Don’t try to pick up people from Fashion week. It happens every year, fashion week ends a day or two before Freshers’ and so some models can still be found at Somerset House/patrolling Kensington and Chelsea. A word for the wise, Lily Cole does NOT want to sleep with you, and offering her cash will only lead to a restraining order. Men, if you have no interest in handbags and wrap dresses, stay

the hell away from Stella McCartney and DVF’s closing day shows.

To reiterate: hitting on some world famous model you see on Kensington High Street is as good an idea as using a bag of Hot Doritos as a viable form of contraception.

Rule 5: Leave the club photographers alone. If they want to photograph you they will, and the fact you don’t know they did will lead to it being a better photograph, one you could use as your Facebook profile picture to show the world and the “friends from home” how cool you are now you live in London. Seriously though, men especially, do you really think painting yourself blue, taking off your shirt and prancing around ROXY will earn you the title of ‘Favourite Fresher’? If so leave Heythrop now and re-apply, I hear Anglia Ruskin really wanted you all along.

Rule 6: Avoid ethnic cuisine.

You’re going to be drinking all week, tell your parents the drinking’s all part of ‘Networking’; after all you’re in London everyone does that networking thing here.

But from personal experience I can tell you it is far from a good idea to fill your bowels with the East End’s finest huevos rancheros, garlic knots or yellow curry during Freshers’ as your oesophagus cannot discern whether you are talking

to the ‘really hot Fresher’ or that fat forty year old newly redundant exbanker who was dancing alone, in sweat drenched grey suit when we arrived at Notting Hill Arts club.

So, take the safe route and stick to relatively odour-less proteins for the week.

Rule 7: No live-tweeting. You have 47 followers on Twitter, half of whom are your friends from Secondary school. What makes you think that they want to see to-theminute updates of your baseless opinion regarding the bar you’re in? Go forth and DANCE. Rule 8: Some night’s are for cameos. Hit multiple parties with efficiency. ESPECIALLY on the Pub crawl. Don’t be the guy who hits Portobello Star at 7pm and sticks around until 3AM because he wants to see Alexa Chung and Peaches Geldof ‘perform’ a prerecorded DJ set. This rule can be combined with rule 2 to create a Nietzchean ‘Uber-rule’.

Rule 9: Take a spare battery/old Nokia out with you. You have just taken 100 people’s phone numbers and WILL get lost, you’ll be texting and dialling your little heart out, just think of the havoc you are going to unleash on your smartphone’s battery life.

Rule 10: Bring an extra pack of cigarettes. Do I look like Oxfam?

Cut out ‘n’ Keep

Freshers’ week event timetable Monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday sunday

Fill in your plans for Fresher’s Week and make sure you don’t get lost! Enjoy the week, let the games begin!

9

Wednesday 26TH SEPTEMBER | THE LION

There, I Fixed It!

comment

Academic Affairs Officer, Peter O’Neil tells us the inside story of the newly-refurbished Basement Peter O’Neil Academic Affairs Officer Peter

Competence was not on the agenda this summer when Heythrop College armed its Students’ Union with drills, hammers and other weapons of mediocre destruction, and let us undertake our own renovation. For the last three months, we, the Union have soundly conquered our ambitions, aspirations and general delusions of grandeur to deliver what can only be described as a tolerable result. However, every rat infested basement has a silver lining, or in our case, a plethora of silver snap frames, where out of date or incorrect information will no doubt be displayed, proudly festooned with libellous graffiti or pornographic doodles.

Speaking earnestly though, I’m sure returning students will be glad

to see some of the changes we have made. The first, most obvious and loudest of these is the provision of a new television in the Lounge, accompanied by a few of those electronic gaming contrivances, where Heythrop Students will be able to procrastinate communally. We have however shrunk the Kitchenette in the Lounge to give us a storage area for the equipment for events, such as open mic nights – I’m afraid disgruntled students will have to store their mouldy bins elsewhere.

In other news, the coliseum of sofas has been dispelled to pave a way for a more functional arrangement; we are setting up the sofas in booths, and providing a number of chairs/tables as well as some seating cubes. Our thinking is that this will enable us to cater for more uses, as tables and chairs provide a good space to work during the day, and to place alcohol, bets and dignity on at night. Booths also

provide a more space efficient way to hold a conversation face-toface with someone without having to shout across the room. Sadly, the furniture had to remain fluidproof, for reasons one need not disclose.

For those of you who are returning to the halls of residence, or for those moving in for the first time, the student post has been re-located to the corridor outside the Union Office. We have removed one suite of lockers from the corridor to make way for the post, as well as to allow us to consolidate all the events and societies information onto two notice boards. The Quiet Room will be being provided with a few pieces of antique furniture in order to make it a more pleasant place to be, it has also been rebranded as the Study, in a move towards it sounding like a nice place to hang out, rather than a soundproof cell in a mental asylum.

On the subject of names, that oth-

er room, the Other room, seemed to be causing some confusion amongst students, with many being driven to perplexity by its atrocious name. Therefore, we have rebranded it the Recreation Room, where we shall hope that Societies will host events – a tasteless blue arrow with ‘Recreation Room’ jutting out of it in cardboard white letters brazenly points the way.

Budding journalists, along with their informants, shall be pleasantly surprised to find that the Lion Office has been moved from opposite the Recreation Room, to a room which has a window, and pipes which aren’t damp. Next door to this Lion Office is our very own Cinema, which has been cringingly dubbed ‘The Cave’, where of an evening students can enjoy this light-proofed room, and if they want – watch a film too, please note that these chairs are not fluid proof, & etc.

This miraculous transformation

took place almost as smoothly as the walls I plastered – which is to say, not smoothly at all. In addition to the ‘plastering’ of walls, the team, seeing beyond the scar across my hand from a teenage DIY accident, knew I was the handyman! I can proudly say, at least half of the shelves I have put up are the right way round, most of the snap-frames I installed are straight and I didn’t quite hit the lift wire, even though I was about half a centimetre off – all intentional, I say!

Nonetheless, none of this would have been possible without the rest of the Union, many of whom gave up their free time over the summer to undertake this renovation.

Moreover we owe a special thanks to Sep and Darren, who are on the actual Heythrop maintenance team, for their tolerance of what should only be described as the sh*ttiest refurbishment attempt known to man.

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WEDNESDAY 26th November | THE LION

COMMENT

A Journey to Dodoma

Dermot Kennedy 2nd year Undergraduate This summer Heythrop went to East Africa to start a partnership with St. Peter Claver, a Jesuit-run High School in Dodoma, the capital city of Tanzania. College Chaplain Fr. Dave Stewart SJ, Steph Crouch, Kate Wilkinson, Stephen Kirk and myself, began our preparations last January. We started at the very beginning as we were the first group to go. We learnt a bit of Swahili, learnt a bit about the country and the school and discussed what we could do there. So, feeling appropriately open-minded and fresh, in late June we left for Nairobi, Kenya, our first stopover en route to Dodoma.

The basic outline of the partnership that we’ve begun comprises a Pen-Pal Club, a Philosophy Club and the start-up of a Special Educational Needs department at the school. I will get to these later, although these were the most important aspects of our trip in regards to what we could offer, we said from the start it was not to be an example of the rich West giving to the poor South, and furthermore we did not delude ourselves that we were performing a selfless task.

It’s hard to imagine it ever being possible to pay back the value of our experience and what we took back from Eastern Africa.

I can’t talk for the speak of the group, but correcting Western misunderstanding and dodgy preconceptions was a theme of the trip. This was poignantly demonstrated in our first detour to Nairobi. We were invited to another Jesuit school in Kibera, Africa’s second largest slum with an estimated 1-2 million residents. The school is Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, the world’s first school for HIV/ AIDs afflicted students. At no point did anyone tell me it was a primary school, but for some strange postcolonial reason I had thought it was. So, when we drove through Kibera to get to the school I was surprised to find that we were actually going to a High School Graduation Ceremony, 18/19 year olds who were going off to study

Engineering, Medicine or Law. We received a very warm welcome and after the jovial frivolities a couple of students walked us around the slum. George and Henry both have HIV/AIDs and live in the heart of the slum, but somewhat absurdly we are now friends on Facebook, as they both have smart phones.

This experience was the keynote to the further exploits where I would learn that Africa is not a country of starving children and helpless orphans, but rather a dynamic continent of ingenuity and positive creativity.

Our first impression of Tanzania was seeing the snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro from the plane to Dares-Salaam. And after a few days in Dar, and after an unbelievable tourist trip to the tropical island of Zanzibar, we finally got to our destination; St. Peter Claver High School in Dodoma. It was a good idea to have an open mind about the partnership as things move at a different pace in Tanzania, not a worse or inferior way, just a different way. It took a little bit more time than we expected in order for us to be able to actually get things underway. However, as a group we successfully managed to launch a Pen-Pal Club, and a Philosophy Club.

The Pen-Pal Club is a cultural exchange programme, where students from Peter Claver and Heythrop will be able to write to each other in broadly a mentoring scheme. In the Fresher’s Fair there will be a stand for the Heythrop branch of the club. It will give us a chance to learn more about each other’s country and cultural realities. Stephen Kirk amassed a following of girls in the school, who, I can only guess, were looking for a James Dean figure, and consequently a lot of the girls wrote that they wanted a tall handsome pen pal. The students at Peter Claver are very keen to make this scheme work and many gave me letters before I left. St. Peter Claver is not the African school you might expect. I asked a few students in the club what their parents did for a living and the answers were surprising; the General of the Tanzanian Army, a lead interna-

tional businessman and even the Speaker of the Tanzanian Parliament. The children are a fascinating bunch and are very enthusiastic to include anyone who is interested into their lives. So look out for the stand in Fresher’s Fair, or just come and see me.

The Philosophy Club was a groundbreaking success. The students are not taught Philosophy in any way in the Tanzanian Educational System so it was all new to them.

Fortunately there was a largerthan-life Ugandan Jesuit who was very happy to teach the club after we left, and he will email us some African Philosophy every so often as he runs the club. I had a very interesting experience with the club which demonstrated how different education is in Tanzania. I managed to get a fair crowd together to teach them about David Hume’s Bundle Theory. They were convinced and fascinated. However, what I had not expected was that the next week when I took the class I found out they had been thinking the whole time that nothing existed; they had been experiencing an existential crisis the whole week…

Quickly I decided it was time to go through some basic reasoning and argument with them. The way they learnt was almost entirely evidence and fact based, and if a teacher says something it must be right, therefore when I presented them with the seemingly flawless empiricism of David Hume they didn’t think to question it.

The opportunity arose to stay longer and teach in the school after our time had ended. Only I was free enough from UK commitments to stay, so I stayed on a few more weeks by myself. This gave me the chance to teach lessons in History, Geography and R.S (to be a qualified teacher in Tanzania all you need is A-Levels) and allowed us to make up for the time that we had fallen behind on. Though dyslexia is completely unheard of in Tanzania I did notice students who displayed signs of dyslexia. Unbelievably there was actually a Chemistry teacher who held a diploma and a BA in Special Educational Needs, but he was not using his qualifications. After I got the support from the Assistant Head, this teacher

leapt at the opportunity when I spoke to him about the possibility of using the resources of the University of London to educate the teachers about dyslexia and other learning disabilities. So soon our very own Dominic McLoughlin will share ideas and resources to enable what is quite possibly the first Special Educational Needs Department in Tanzania.

In my time by myself I saw a lot more of Tanzania, I went to a famous Goat Market, was lucky enough to be a guest of the Speaker to visit the Tanzanian Parliament, saw a rural primary school through a scheme with the students of Peter Claver, managed to go on Safari, experienced the night life of Dodoma and Dar and even won 30,000 Shillings (about £10) on a roulette table in a casino. What struck us as a group were the people that we met and shared our experience with; Tanzanians, Ugandans, Kenyans, South Sudanese, Ethiopians, South Africans and also Germans, Americans and even fellow British people. The things we learnt about Africa from all of the people we met were fascinating, and the genuine friendliness of everyone was so positive.

In a serendipitous meeting in Dares-Salaam airport on my way home I started talking to Raheem Biviji, a steel tycoon based in Nairobi.

I was telling him about my trip and he was very impressed by the work of St. Aloysius Gonzaga. We exchanged emails and now he is in the process of sponsoring students from the school in Kibera, and is also looking to employ a couple of its graduates as well as give talks to the students. He had previously never heard of the school and now wants to reinforce to the students the bright possibilities of their futures.

There is one final encounter I feel I must disclose; it is a further testament to the misunderstandings between the West and Africa. One of the people we talked to was an undergraduate in Dar called Deotas, who was telling me how hard he works for his degree, a genuine 8 hour day, every day. I laughed and told him people in Tanzania work a lot harder than in England,

which is very true, and was also the case in all of the schools we visited.

But when I said this he looked at me and said “you must be joking, look at your country and then look at mine”, I could see his world view; that if you work hard then things are good, therefore as things are good in Britain then all UK students and young people must work hard. I didn’t have the heart to correct him as there was a real underlined tension that if what I said was true then it is not fair on him. On the other hand it is very possible that he is right; our geographical advantage won’t last forever. There was a study by Oslo University which asked Professors in some of the most prestigious universities in Europe what they thought the literacy rate in Tanzania was.

The result was that the Professors said 20-30%, however, the figure is actually 75-80%. Things are moving in Africa, and once this new generation of bright, creative and optimistic Africans becomes the leaders of tomorrow then all our preconceptions will be proven wrong. There is still much poverty in Africa and there is still war and famine and drought. But there is a new technologically and intellectually equipped group of proactive people. Africa was named, its borders drawn and run by Westerners, but what we saw was an Africa comfortable in its own identity and now ready for realistic and achievable hope.

This partnership in Dodoma gives Heythrop a real chance for all of us to partake in this movement of young people. The students of St. Peter Claver are in a privileged position; already, one of the best schools in Tanzania, and Tanzania is one of the most peaceful and respected countries in Africa.

The Jesuit ethos of good education, a sense of self-worth and the more universal good, and generous service of others, especially the poor, will equip St. Peter Claver High School and Heythrop College for a flourishing global partnership where we can both discern a Twenty-First Century global world outlook.

Wednesday 26TH SEPTEMBER | THE LION

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HSU PAGE

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Wednesday 26th september | THE LION

Culture Tripp’s Top Tips - Eat on the Cheap Daniel Tripp Culture Editor DanielDa

In this first issue, that is no doubt choc a block with articles for Freshers and the like, it’d be good to share with you something for the second years like me. The student who no longer has the benefit of being able to wake up five minutes before a lecture and still only get to it fifteen minutes late. Of having magical money placed upon your card every week to spend on food – that is cooked for you.

Of being in pretty much the exact middle of one of the swankiest streets in all of London.

Now, however, you find yourself stuck out in the sticks. You have to cook for yourself. Every day. At least twice. Every day. It turns out that food costs a lot.

Well not a lot, but you have to buy a lot of it, which makes it cost a lot. Which almost strikes you as unfair really, it is basically false advertising. So here comes my first set of top tips that I’ve come across as being in that darling of a social class – lower middle class. With no funding from my parents. Or college. Or job.

Free Cutlery: So far the best

free cutlery I’ve found is from Wholefoods. It’s nice and sturdy and you can pick it up on the way out of the store. Not only is it free, I presume because it is from Wholefoods it is also vegan which is always a good thing to desire in your eating utensils. It’s also quite satisfying to eat takeaway McDonalds with it just for kicks. Come on, you’ve got no money, every chuckle is two seconds that you’re not lying staring at the wall thinking about the next meal of rice and beans.

Free Condiments: Wetherspoons is the best place for ketchup, HP sauce, mustard, salad cream, vinegar and the like. They have the good stuff too, in packets, so as of such I assume it is free and therefore you can take as much as you like. Wetherspoons does very cheap drinks, as long as you don’t mind drinking in the dark surrounded by scary people.

Cheap Food: Another one for the vegans, Graze boxes are basically four tasty treats made from healthy stuff like fruit, oats and other things you thought tasted horrible.

They’re actually really tasty, kind of like when you get forced to go into a vegan café but then

everything tastes amazing because you forgot you were in Brighton. Apart from the lemonade, why is lemonade always rubbish in healthy places? Another mystery readers. Anyway you get your first box for half price, and in that box you get four vouchers for your friends to get free boxes too. So with enough playing around you can probably get yourself a few free boxes before you have to actually pay anything, definitely worth it – just remember, as always, to cancel before they start charging. After that just get your parents to buy you a couple. It’s healthy, it’s nonalcoholic, they can’t complain.

Cheap… Everything: Bit of a trek for some but I’m sure there are other stores around.

In Hammersmith we have a store called Tyger. It sells a great range of different stuff, we’re talking plates, bowls, mugs, lights, herbs, chocolate, hangers, ring-binders, hole punches, generic jazz CDs, lightsaber-esque floor standing lights, candles, sketch books, floor mats… it really does go on. And most things are priced either £1, £2 or £3. No ninety nines here, which is surprisingly refreshing.

Flickr.com/ mattring

Games: Free-Roaming, Mostly Free Games hands.

Peter Brogan 2nd year Undergraduate There are six or seven other Mount and Blade: Warband Mount and Blade: Warband is a game where I occasionally pop online and do some duelling, mostly with a two handed weapon, usually a sword. I have spent hundreds of hours in just this part of the game. Duelling, is done usually with two handed swords, and in multiplayer. The basic mechanics are that you can attack in four directions, block in those four directions, and move in and out of range and kick. Blocking midway through an attack cancels your attack, allowing you to feint and attack from another direction. The game’s skill ceiling is huge. The baseline level of skill for a duel to be a duel and not a couple of morons waving swords around is quickly reachable by anyone with two relatively healthy

multiplayer game modes, though the reason most people buy the game is the singleplayer and that the game can be and is modded to hell and back by an active modding community for both singleplayer and multiplayer if you ever want to try something other than native.

Roguelikes Roguelikes are a loosely defined genre of turn based RPGs usually with random dungeon generation, with persistent death as their defining feature and usually with very basic graphics for a lot of games.

It might not sound great but I assure you everything is an awful lot more exciting when your character can actually die for real. Usually the items have randomised appearances and some items can be found cursed so a big part of many roguelikes is figuring how to

identify items. For example, if you have two rings you can throw one in a pool of acid. If it floats, it’s a ring of water-walking, if it sinks but doesn’t dissolve, it’s a ring of acid resistance. If it sinks and dissolves it’s something else and you can label the other ring “not water or acid” or whatever helps you remember. I haven’t played many roguelikes, but of the ones I have played POWDER is my favourite so I recommend that. (Editor: And it’s free!)

Sourcemods Sourcemods are mods which run on Valve’s source engine, any of which is free if you own a source engine game. Some are very low population to the point where you won’t necessarily be able to get a game at any given time.

Pirates, Vikings and Knights II. Wonderfully silly game where Pirates, Vikings and Knights

fight. If you want to get a feel for the game’s aesthetic this is a perfect example: the Pirate captain has a parrot (called Polly) which he can set on enemies and upon doing so says “fly, pirate” like he’s the birds mother, sad but happy its child is finally leav-

ing the nest. Poignant until Polly gets murdered by the nearest Viking or Knight – tragic, until Polly respawns on your shoulder 30 seconds later, then hilarious forevermore. The gameplay is pretty good too.

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Wednesday 26th september | THE LION

edited by Daniel Tripp Music: TOY - TOY theviewfromthemusic Student Blog Let it be said that one of the most fashionable forms of guitar music at the moment is psychedelic rock. The Horrors grew to represent that sound within their third release ‘Skying’ and more recently, Richard Hawley embarked on a similar sound in 2012 with ‘Standing At The Sky’s Edge’. TOY have done the same. They have established themselves to have a popular sound on the live circuit with impressive slots at Reading & Leeds, Latitude, Bestival and supporting The Horrors. Much comparison can be drawn between TOY and The Horrors who incidentally are also good friends.

Three of the five members of the London based band are former members of Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong who have

embarked on a new career, which in our opinion is going to be nothing but successful.

The impressive first single they released in 2011 ‘Left Myself Behind’ was limited to 100 pressings which remarkably sold out in a day which we believe, has set the stall out for the band and their album will be just as successful. Having garnered much deserved hype from NME and other critics alike, the bands latest single (released today, 3rd September) has been a very popular selection within our Track Of The Day catalogue.

The album itself opens with the irrepressible ‘Colour’s Running Out’. The distortion pedals are out, the riff is as contagiously infective as chicken pocks and the vocals drift in and out of the track with consummate ease. ‘Colour’s Running Out’

sets out the stall for the rest of the album and sets you up for a moody yet sparkly outing.

Think dim lights and leather jackets with sequin trousers and you will truly comprehend what this record is about.

Mesmeric track ‘Dead And Gone’ is another of the strongest offerings on the album.

It’s a 7 and a half minute epic track which unfortunately completely flies by when you listen to it. As we have done over the past week or so, you’ll lose a lot of your life to this track as you will listen to it again and again.

The track itself is the epitome of simplicity, yet completely entrancing. For the large part its dark and moody, it’s black, until five minutes in where it explodes into an outro of an ocean of colour and rainbows.

Recent single ‘Lose My Way’ is also an album highlight and

displays a softer side of emotion, as does the distorted sounding ‘Make It Mine’.

However, as the saying goes, the best is saved until last. Curtain closer ‘Kopter’ is a NINE MINUTE long song. But don’t let this put you off, it’s a full on explosion of sound that will leave you wanting more from one of the best things to come out of 2012.

- 9/10 - On a personal level, you’ve waited all your life for this record. Sure comparisons with The Horrors are going to follow TOY around for a long time but they have an astute, share worthy sound that will see them become one of indierocks greatest exports for years to come.

Read more music reviews at

The View From The Music is

theviewfromthemusic.com

want it to be. I think perhaps these new ways to make music motivated those who needed to express themselves in a manner different to existing music; and thus money could be made with the motivation of a plan.

Where there’s a will there’s a way. But now for the next section, which I think is the greatest misconception of sampling.

Synthesizers could create melodies beyond sampling, and bands such as The Roots were able to make hip-hop tracks by instruments alone; albeit an isolated case of the conjunction of musicians who caught hold of the new sound and could create it their own way. But for the solo producer, as I said, synthesizers could add new elements beyond the restrictions of samples. But what is a synthesizer?

A manipulation of a sine wave; producers were manipulating samples too. A keyboard? A panel of piano keys with manipulated waves which sound like a piano, or flute, or cello. A sample pad. Back to The Roots; they played instruments. But

did they not sample both the craft of the creator of the instrument at hand? Did they not sample from the natural harmonics? Lyricism; does it not sample words and concepts from a set of language? Are you able to discredit sampling when it is not as different from other musical formulations as you once supposed? Perhaps it is better to see it as an inventive form of music on par with the introduction of lyrics into music. How many songs have used A, D, G as their chord structure and sounded different? Compare this to listening to GZA ‘I Gotcha Back’ and Wu-Tang ‘Cream’; same sample (bar one), different outcome. And finally, classical shows performing pieces by Bach, Strauss, Mozart? Or cover bands? I’ll let you think about what they are in the context of this essay. Sampling has given a voice to the voiceless; now we see: Jungle, Hip-Hop, Trip-Hop, House, and a whole lot more.

Bless the cheaters!

Music: Sampling Richard Castle 3rdd year Undergraduate I’ve heard many people complain that sampling is cheating, or unoriginal. Unmusical in a word. I hope to illustrate how misguided they are due to the reality of its place in history. I feel I can comment as I can play instruments, know musical theory and history, and practice sampling. Samples can come in straight loops cut from a previous record, repeated for the entirety of the newly crafted length of a new song; see Ice Cube’s ‘It Was A Good Day’ after listening to the Isley Brothers ‘Footsteps in the Dark’ for an example of this. Samples can be cut up and rearranged to create a new groove or melody. Samples can be taken from all media and art; other songs, speeches, sitcoms from all eras. The point is to illustrate a picture by the use of the chosen cut; as a basis for a vocalist to perform over, or as a compliment to a made song in itself.

So problems with straightly cut, unchanged loops, can be dispelled by the equalisation, and hence repackaging, of the sound of the sample, and also by the fact a vocalist is using this sample as he/she feels it symbolises part of the expression they wish to create. As such, loops were born, in hip hop, as a necessary element of

the party. I’ll avoid using quotations; but from research, particularly in RZA’s ‘Tao of Wu’, it seems that hip-hop used old cuts, or breaks, from records, basically samples, with an M.C. vocalising and ‘hyping’ the crowd of the party. This was in the seventies, and hip hop wasn’t generally established as a genre of music until the eighties, when a clearer cut was made between its funk origins; see Younger Generation’s ‘We Rap More Mellow’ for this crossover before the split began. So from this, sampling emerged as a serious movement from black American parties; a further movement for the consciousness of a subculture stricken in poverty; which moves me onto my next point.

Poverty, and social situations, prevented many from learning to play instruments, or to form bands, and many couldn’t afford the time or money needed for training themselves to play music. They were isolated from full artistic expression which arguably could have been an escape from the reality they inhabited. Instead, the manifestation of the hip-hop party in the late seventies, gave birth to production, through the DJ choosing a record, manipulating and equalising it, and then to rapping, through the M.C party vocaliser, lyrically presenting his mind’s content over the product. Thus a lyrical and musical artwork is formed by

an unheard subculture. Sampling was a necessity to give birth to hip-hop, and subsequent genres. It was the L.P stuck in a groove, on repeat, a new discovery, combined with the expression of a suppressed number of people in the USA. This combination sparked the market to update equipment for the better use of sampling itself; in the forms of sample pads and drum machines amongst others. This shall lead me to my next section. The producer was able to create whole tracks now, beyond the loop.

He was able to layer samples, create drum beats, and even bass lines from the drum machine. The producer had the ability to compose a track in his bedroom, alone, separate from the musical industry which had arguably restricted black music in its rawest manifestation self-sufficiency. The producer as an artist was able to express and understand himself in society; which would eventually reach beyond the ghetto and hip-hop world. Synthesizers could be used also, and even though this all seems to contradict my comment on the lack of money for instruments, it feels to me that this new form of musical production was necessary for that subculture to express themselves properly, and en masse; and money can be made if you know what you need. A guitar is a guitar, but also a tool and extension of yourself if you

FREE ENTRY!

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wednesday 26th september | THE LION

Societies Sports and

societies@theheythroplion.co.uk

Philosophy Society Peter O’Neil

Philosophy Soc President Hello to all the new students, and welcome back to all our returning students. I’m writing from the Heythrop Philosophy Society (HPS), to explain what we are about, and what is on offer. The heart of the HPS is our regular socials. At least once a week, and often more we meet for a ‘few’ drinks and discuss a range of philosophical issues. We don’t limit ourselves to any particular discipline or school of thought, indeed – it would prove quite tedious if we all agreed. These meetings are informal, and a great place to throw around ideas, after all – if discussions were good enough for Socrates, they should suffice for us!

For a taste of something a little more formal, we have a great looking line up of speaker events for the coming year.

We’ve pencilled in about nine speakers thus far, including Professor Anthony Price from Birkbeck, the Durham Pro-

fessor - Johnathan Lowe, Professor Strawson from Reading, and Alain de Botton, a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. These are a great opportunity to hear experts in their field talk on a subject, and enjoy some free coffee or wine and snacks afterwards whilst you ask them some difficult questions! Of course, if you are a particular fan of a certain thinker – just ask us and we can try to arrange it.

If you’ve had enough of lectures, and would rather listen to some debates – or take part in a debate, we shall be hosting a range of quibbles throughout the year. If you feel strongly on an issue, from animal rights to the existence of God, let us know and we will do our best to arrange it. If the thought of a debate isn’t tempting, I hope our [endless] offers of free coffee, wine and snacks will convince you.

Perhaps you have a serious interest in a specific area of philosophy, and would like to attend or lead a dedicated discussion group on it. This is the perfect starting place for ideas to reach the

maturity they require to be formulated into a publishable state.

For those interested in getting published - we will be organizing a specific event focused around encouraging college students to prepare papers for the next edition of the US journal ‘Stance’, which is released in the Winter. We will also be organizing a specific event focused upon encouraging people to submit work to the British Journal of Undergraduate Philosophy. The Commisioning Editor of the Journal, Rory Phillips - is also the Events Manager of the HPS, and will work with me to give out advice to keen individuals.

We’ll also be attending a variety of conferences, and following the success of the BUPS conference in Leeds over the summer, where I presented a paper, everyone had a great time (except perhaps for the person who fell asleep whilst I was speaking) - and we are very keen to attend again this coming year. We are also keen to attend the UK Kant Society conference again, where Rory Phillips presented a paper this

summer. We are also looking into the possibility of working with one or more specialist philosophy groups to host a joint conference here at Heythrop.

Our goals this year are to really push interest in all areas of philosophy to all college members, to educate each other in a wide range of topics, and to encourage students of all levels to pursue their ideas to their academic potential - publication.

To help us with all this, we are looking for three new executive members, two for our Events Team and one VicePresident Commencing, to ensure that the society has representation across all year groups at the College. Let us know if you’re interested, and we can have a chat about the roles. If anyone is interested in making any suggestions regarding speakers, events and so forth - or would like any more information, email Peter.ONeil@heythropcollege. ac.uk), Rory (Rory.Phillips@heythrop college.ac.uk) or Sartaj (Sartaj.Singh@ heythropcollege.ac.uk). Don’t forget to add us, get in touch, check the events board, and join us on Facebook.

flickr.com/mcaven

Why Knit? - Heythrop W.I.

flickr.com/elitatt

Eleanor MacIntyre Head of Heythrop W.I. Knitting. Beloved pastime of sick people, doting middle-class mothers-to-be, and old ladies who live on the coast and don’t care to shower while they’re waiting to die. Also well known for its kickass knit-purl combos, lightningfast competitive edge, and ability to make young ladies swoon (so pucker up, and don’t layette on too thick...). You can see why Heythrop has a society for that. This might seam odd, but do you know your stitch from your stocking?

Allow me to recount a few facts,

which you might even weave into your freshers’ week ravelry ... (and I promise they aren’t entirely fabricated!) 1. Folk pre-1000BC were known for their chilly feet – the oldest known knitted garment is an Egyptian sock from the start of the first millennium. 2. Hand-knit hats keep one’s head 8.5% warmer than machine-manufactured beanies, due to the irregularity of the gauge.

3. The wool knit in the average adult pair of socks would stretch the length of 4 football fields. 4.

Knitted stockings were a major export industry in Elizabethan Britain. In order to teach the poor a marketable skill, knitting schools were set up to enlighten the mass-

es. 5. The Virgin Mary is believed to have been an avid knitter. Master Bertram of Minden publicised this little-known rumour with his portrait “Knitting Madonna” in the early 1400s, where the Holy Mother is depicted knitting a garment in the round, on 4 needles – this is believed to be the messianic baby bonnet, which would later become one of the more obscure middle-European relics. 6.

Feared by governments and kings alike, the fearsome cult of guerrilla knitting has spread like wildfire and London has been festooned with woolly features in the past few years. 7. Knitting is not purl-y an old-ladies’ sport! There have been

many famous personalities known for their knitting prowess. To name but a few...

Eleanor Roosevelt, Julia Roberts, Russell Crowe, Peter Vardy, Cameron Diaz, Immanuel Kant, Dakota Fanning, Michael Holman SJ, Winona Ryder, and Stephen Fry. 8. Blocking your knitting with the dregs of your tea not only gives a fragrant finish to one’s pullover, but is more effective (and less wasteful) than beer. 9. Tennyson can’t help his work be entwined with the knitting world – Lord Raglan (sleeves invented on demand) gave Lord Cardigan (the foppish, garment-inspiring brute) the fateful misconstrued order that made him

enter the fray and so ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ possible to tell...

10. Chuck Norris has never tried knitting. Knitting tried Chuck Norris. So, cast-off your worries, slip out from the Heythrop bubble, and needle your new friends to come along and join us – Heythrop W.I. (for women of all genders) - for a wee yarn, to scarf down a bite and pickup a drink at one of our Knit in the Pub events. You’ve just garter be there! First Heythrop W.I. ‘Knit in the Pub’ event – 7.30pm, 4th October, Prince of Wales. Bring along a craft, a corny joke to tell (these puns are thoroughly intended), or just a will to learn! See you soon!

we Hope you enjoyed reading our first issue!

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